Performance, Commentary & Portfolio

Fund Manager’s Review

Portfolio overview

Allianz Technology Trust’s Net Asset Value (NAV) total return was 2.88% in January, compared to the Dow Jones World Technology Index return of 0.11% in GBP

January was volatile for global equities, with modest index gains offset by sharp swings driven by geopolitical shocks, including military action, escalating trade tensions, and rising instability across multiple regions that weighed on overall investor sentiment. Technology stocks were higher on the back of strength in semiconductors and interactive media and services, though that strength was offset by notable headwinds in software and entertainment-related stocks.

Monthly relative outperformance was led by bottom-up gains in technology hardware and semiconductors, as well as a below-benchmark weight in software. This was only partially offset by stock selection in information technology services and an active underweight allocation to interactive media and services stocks.

Contributors

Our active position in Micron Technology, Inc., a leading memory and storage semiconductor company, favourably impacted results for the third month in a row, led by unabated demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) tied to artificial intelligence (AI) demand and better-than-expected margin recovery as the memory cycle remained tight.

Shares of Lam Research Corp., a maker of critical semiconductor manufacturing equipment used in advanced logic and memory production, moved higher as investors priced in a recovery in memory capital expenditure and stronger long‑term demand due to rising chip complexity.

SanDisk Corp., a provider of serving consumer and enterprise storage markets, soared amid optimism around memory price recovery and enterprise demand tied to AI data centres, and high operating leverage to the memory cycle.

Our position in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. a designer of power‑management chips that regulate and optimise power in data centres, automotive, and industrial system, and an active underweight to enterprise software, cloud storage and security giant Microsoft Corp. which declined following weaker-than-anticipated growth acceleration, also contributed to monthly performance results.

Detractors

Our avoidance of two South Korean companies: semiconductor and consumer conglomerate Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and semiconductor and electronics components maker SK hynix, Inc., offset results given their moderate benchmark weights and double-digit returns related to optimism over memory and AI-related applications. We continue to prefer exposure to other stocks in the portfolio which have similar demand drivers, less potential macroeconomic uncertainty and more attractive underlying fundamental factors.

A below-benchmark position in ASML Holding NV, a leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductor lithography equipment used to manufacture cutting-edge AI and high-performance chips, offset results as the stock rallied due to expectations of strong secular growth. We added the stock to the portfolio during the month given its high level of near-term visibility.

Our active position in Snowflake Inc., a cloud data platform combining data warehousing, analytics, and AI-oriented services that help enterprises manage and analyse large data sets across multi-cloud environments, offset results despite solid growth as investors weighed valuation pressures, concerns about near-term profitability and margin trends, and rotation out of more-expensive software stocks.

Similarly, our exposure to Klaviyo, Inc., a cloud-based customer data and marketing automation platform, declined amid the broader software selloff which hit high-growth names and investors reacted to perceived deceleration in growth metrics and transition-related execution risk.

New buys and sells 

Turnover in January was undertaken at a lower-than-typical level as the portfolio was already well-positioned from a bottom-up and top-down thematic basis. We newly purchased shares of Applied Materials Inc., a leading semiconductor materials engineering solutions provider, due to expectations of sustainable demand across AI, automotive, automation and robotics, segments. We also bought ASML Holding NV, a manufacturer of advanced semiconductor lithography equipment, given its leadership position and exposure across multiple technology-related themes. There were no portfolio sales during the month.

Market Outlook 

We continue to view the technology sector favourably, underpinned by durable structural growth drivers led by AI and the broadening adoption of AI across enterprise, consumer, and industrial applications. There has been a sharp market rotation toward AI-driven hardware and datacentre infrastructure, which has weighed on software-related exposure, reflecting earnings anxiety, macro positioning, and valuation compression rather than a deterioration in underlying demand. As macro conditions stabilise, easing inflation and growing confidence in policy rate cuts should provide a more supportive backdrop for valuation and capital spending. Corporate fundamental factors remain solid, with many technology companies demonstrating resilient margins and strengthening forward guidance. While episodic volatility may persist, particularly around geopolitics and policy, we expect technology to remain a key driver of earnings growth. Looking ahead, we believe high-quality market leaders with scale, strong balance sheets, and proven execution are well positioned to outperform as AI-driven demand continues to compound across the sector.

Our focus remains on building the portfolio from a bottom-up perspective with a macro-overview. Technology remains a key enabler across almost every vertical industry and we will continue to seek stocks which solve difficult problems and can be long-term outperformers. Despite shortterm periods of higher volatility, earnings growth ultimately drives stock prices over the long term, and in our view, we are still early in the spending trend supporting this dynamic segment.

Mike Seidenberg
16 February 2026

This is no recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any particular security. Any security mentioned above will not necessarily be comprised in the portfolio by the time this document is disclosed or at any other subsequent date.

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